Harriers aces backed for England

Penn and Constable have been named in the England non-league squad to face Finland in Helsinki on November 14.

And Penn reckons the duo could soon be followed into Paul Fairclough's side by other rising Aggborough stars.

Hagley-based Penn said: "There are lots of good young players in our squad who could find themselves called up in the future.

"People like Gavin Hurren and Simon Russell, who has been injured a lot this season, are excellent players and there is no reason why they and other lads can't be involved with England when they are fit and in the team."

Penn and Constable will link up with their England 'C' team mates after next Saturday's FA Cup first round clash with Ware. And leading scorer Constable is delighted to have fulfilled a hat-trick of footballing ambitions.

The former Walsall striker said: "I had three ambitions as a kid.

"One was to play in the Football League and another was to play at Wembley and I achieved one with Walsall and one with Kidderminster last year. The third ambition was to play for my country, and although this isn't to full international team I'm still representing my country, which is a great honour.

"I'm delighted with how the season has gone for me personally so far. After having an operation in the summer it was always going to take a bit of time to get back into things and that's how it turned out.

"But I got a couple of hat-tricks in a short space of time and that really got me going."

Meanwhile, Harriers manager Mark Yates has contacted Chester manager Bobby Williamson to explain on-loan Dean Bennett's relegation to the bench for the clash with Vauxhall Motors last weekend.

Reports in Cheshire suggested Williamson was unhappy that Bennett did not start, but Yates insisted injury was the only thing that kept him on the bench.

Yates said: "I spoke to the Chester manager yesterday and informed them that Dean had picked up a slight injury a couple of weeks ago against Weymouth.

"He trained on Friday – the first time he'd trained – and thought he was OK for Saturday but he came in to see me just before the game and said he didn't think it was quite ready.

"He was prepared to sit on the bench for us and try and change the game if we really needed it.

"Fortunately we didn't and we chose to give his groin a bit of extra rest and time to recover – there's nothing sinister in it, Dean has been superb for us and if he tells me it isn't ready then I'm going to give him time to recover.

"I've cleared that up with Bobby Williamson and they're aware of the problem and the reasons behind Dean not playing."